ELECTION 2000 - The Race for State Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner

TALLAHASSEE -- Democrat John Cosgrove has lobbed almost every mortar and fired almost every missile he could find at Tom Gallagher in his underdog bid for state treasurer and insurance commissioner.

But despite Cosgrove's best efforts to discredit his better-known Republican opponent, the charges bead up and roll off Gallagher like water.

The race for treasurer and insurance commissioner is a classic David vs. Goliath battle. Cosgrove, 51, is little known outside his Miami state House district. He specialized in insurance issues during his 16 years in the Legislature, especially after Hurricane Andrew nearly blew away his house in 1992 and his homeowner's policy was canceled in the ensuing insurance crisis. He chaired the House Insurance Committee from 1993 to 1996.

Gallagher, 56, also is a former Miami state House member who has run for statewide office six times since 1986 and won twice. He held the insurance commissioner's job from 1988 to 1994. In 1998, he was elected state education commissioner.

Here's a sampling of the arsenal that Cosgrove has unleashed against Gallagher:

One week after Gallagher entered the insurance commissioner's race in June, Cosgrove was out with a television spot calling his opponent an opportunistic job hopper. In May, Gallagher resigned as education commissioner (effective in January) to seek a U.S. Senate seat. He later abandoned that quest and jumped into the insurance commissioner's race at the request of Gov. Jeb Bush and state Republican Party Chairman Al Cardenas. They recruited Gallagher to run for the insurance job after GOP front-runner Toni Jennings unexpectedly abandoned the race.

Earlier this month, Cosgrove hit the airwaves with another attack ad, this time labeling Gallagher "one of the most investigated officials in Florida history."

At least a half-dozen state and federal law-enforcement agencies have investigated Gallagher and several companies to which he was linked during the past 12 years.

No agency could ever prove wrongdoing on Gallagher's part.

Cosgrove tried to have Gallagher's name removed from the Nov. 7 ballot. He said Gallagher illegally resigned as education commissioner to run for U.S. Senate, then jumped into the insurance commissioner's race. A Tallahassee judge disagreed.

Despite these attacks, an Orlando Sentinel poll last week showed what it has shown for the past three months: Gallagher continues to hold a commanding lead.

An `uncomfortable spot'

Cosgrove's aggressive campaign could be backfiring.

Two weeks ago, he had his own explaining to do. After bashing Gallagher for allowing more than $100,000 in illegal campaign funds to flow into one of his previous political campaigns, a Miami insurance adjuster became the target of an investigation for giving Cosgrove $3,500 worth of illegal campaign contributions. An official with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said there is no evidence to indicate Cosgrove knew the contributions were illegal -- the same conclusion investigators reached when Gallagher had similar trouble.

This time, Gallagher seized on the situation and ran a 10-second television ad labeling Cosgrove a hypocrite. "This puts me in an uncomfortable spot," the ad quotes Cosgrove as saying.

Despite the campaign's nasty tone, Gallagher has tried to maintain a strategy of doing the state's business as education commissioner and conducting news conferences on public-school issues. He hands out bonus checks to exceptional teachers and visits schools. In between his official duties, he takes a detour to shake hands with voters or deliver a speech as the GOP's nominee for treasurer and insurance commissioner.

Cosgrove is stepping up an already vigorous daily campaign schedule. He will continue attacking Gallagher while trying to sell himself as the only candidate with a legitimate interest in holding the insurance commissioner's job.

"I'm the candidate of ideas," Cosgrove said.

Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, said Cosgrove might make the race closer by dropping a new bomb on Gallagher. That's because voters probably won't start paying close attention to state Cabinet races until a week to 10 days before the Nov. 7 election.

But Cosgrove is running out of time.

And the insurance industry is putting its money behind Gallagher. Nearly $170,000 of the $1.4 million raised by Gallagher comes from insurers and financial planners. Cosgrove's contributions of $936,000 include only about $53,000 from the industry, according to records at the state Division of Elections.

The major political parties also have this race high on their priority lists. Cosgrove has received $113,000 from the state Democratic Party and Gallagher $130,000 from the Republicans. Both parties are expected to continue giving the candidates enough money to blanket the airwaves with television ads as the election approaches.

Looking ahead

So why all the fuss over a job that is going to be around for only another two years? It's a job that could produce great future benefits for the person and political party that wins it.

Voters in 1998 approved a constitutional amendment streamlining the state Cabinet from six members to three. The treasurer and insurance commissioner's job will be merged with the state comptroller's office in 2003 to become Florida's Chief Financial Officer.

State Comptroller Bob Milligan plans to retire after this term, so the person in the insurance commissioner's office becomes the favorite to sit next to the governor and other Cabinet officers as the state's first CFO.